Dewan: Tim Lincecum breaks our defensive rankings

From SABR member John Dewan at ACTA Sports on November 19, 2013:

You may not be surprised to hear that Tim Lincecum is a poor fielder. His unusual delivery adds deception to his pitches, which helped him earn his new $35 million extension, but it also puts him in less-than-ideal fielding position and allows plenty of time for baserunners to steal on him. Well, this season, Lincecum redefined poor fielding.

Having cost himself and his team eight runs with his defense in 2013, Tim Lincecum ranked number 176 out of the 175 pitchers that we rank defensively! Now that’s bad.

OK, let me explain. After each season, we create a grouping of 175 pitchers, about six per team, that have the most innings pitched in baseball. This season, two pitchers were tied for the 175th-most innings pitched, so we ended up having an extra pitcher in the group. Lincecum, as it turns out, finished last among all qualifiers in fielding, which was 176th out of (an intended) 175 pitchers!